This invention relates to a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material, particularly to a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material which can exhibit good spectral absorption characteristics and give a cyan dye image without dye loss even by use of a bleaching bath or bleach-fixing bath which is fatigued after running.
As usual, in a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material, silver halide grains exposed to light are reduced with an aromatic primary amine type color developing agent, and a dye image can be obtained through coupling of the oxidized product of said color developing agent thereby formed, with a coupler for forming each of yellow, magenta and cyan dyes.
The coupler widely used for formation of the above cyan dye is a phenol type or naphthol type cyan coupler.
In the field of photography in recent years, with rapid development of color photograhic techniques, the amount of color nega films processed has become so enormous that the phenomenon occurs in which bleaching bath or bleach-fixing bath is fatigued in running.
The naphthol type compound which has been widely used as the cyan coupler for color nega film is found to involve the drawback that, when processed with a fatigued bleaching bath or bleach-fixing bath, the dye once formed is returned to the leuco form, thereby causing dye loss. For improving these drawbacks, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 21139/1972, 65134/1981, 204543/1982, 204544/1982, 204545/1982, 98731/1983, 187928/1983, cyan couplers having a phenylureido group at the 2-position of phenol have been developed, whereby the dye loss could be improved dramatically. On the other hand, since these couplers are relatively shorter in the maximum absorption wavelength as compared with naphthol type couplers, absorption at the green light region on the shorter wavelength region is greater, which is not preferable in color reproduction. Visual sensitivity of human beings is most sensitive particularly to green light and even a slight reduction in such an unnecessary absorption can bring about a great visual improvement. Thus, it has been desired to have a further improvement.